


The Broken Gun

by Sabsel98



Series: Catch me-verse [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Discussion of rape/non-con, Fluff, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28550508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabsel98/pseuds/Sabsel98
Summary: A broken gun is what caused it all, Jason knows that, he knows that it's his fault his family got hurt.Roy disagrees.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Catch me-verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091738
Kudos: 32





	The Broken Gun

**Author's Note:**

> So, first one-shot dealing with the aftermath of CiflaCib. Don't read this If you haven't read the first part of the series, you won't understand what's going in and you'll only spoil yourself If you're interested in that.  
> Ages:  
> Roy: 25  
> Lian: 4, soon to be 5  
> Jason: 19

Roy walked into the common room of the Watchtower, rubbing the back of his neck. That mission had been a drag. Two months of reconnaissance in the snowy mountains of Tibet had _not_ been fun.

He wasn't the only League member on base, Ollie, Clark, Diana and Barry were standing in a circle, talking. Conner and Cassie were there too, sitting on the couch and chatting. Arsenal let out a snort when he spotted Jon floating above their heads, the kid had recently figured out how to fly and spent 90% of his time in the air, now.

His smile died, however, when he spotted a very familiar toddler in the thirteen year-old's arms.

“Jon, you better get my daughter on the ground, or I will have your hide!”, he barked.

Conner's laughter was drowned out by the happy shriek of “Daddy!” and Roy easily caught the four year-old barreling towards him, after she'd been set on the ground.

“Hey, there, Firecracker. What are you doing here?”, he asked her, after hoisting her up in his arms.

“Grandpa brought me here, so I could look at the stars!”, she exclaimed, her green eyes sparkling.

Roy turned towards Ollie, after the others had approached him.

“She was with you? Did something happen in Gotham?”

Jason would only drop Lian off at Ollie's, if something major had happened.

The redhead felt his stomach drop at Clark's frown.

“The last thing we heard from the bats was that Scarecrow was out and that Bruce and Dick were investigating a serial killer.”

“That Bluebeard business? It sounded pretty nasty.”, Barry commented.

Roy frowned and set Lian down.

“Jon, why don't you take Lian to the observation Deck and tell her about some of the constellations?”, he said, in a tone that meant it had been no suggestion.

The boy looked between them, before agreeing and taking the dark haired little girl out of earshot.

Arsenal crossed his arms over his chest.

“What did Jay tell you, when he gave you Lian?”

Ollie shrugged.

“Just that him and the kids were on the Scarecrow case.”

Diana put her hands on her hips.

“Bruce left them to deal with one of his rogues? This Bluebeard must be serious business, then.”

“From what I read, he rapes and kills boys that are around Jon and Damian's age. I understand why Bruce would want him off the streets as quickly as possible.”, Clark said, his mouth a grim, flat line. The archer felt bile rise in his throat.

_Jesus, Gotham really has the worst of the worst, doesn't it?_

Barry opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Cassie's shout of “Jason!”

Roy turned and felt his heart drop into his stomach. Jason looked like hell.

His boyfriend was pale, with dark shadows underneath his red-rimmed eyes.

“We were just discussing what happened with- oomph!”

Roy got pulled into a hug, the taller man burying his face in the crook of his neck.

“Jay? What the fuck happened?”, he choked, feeling the other tremble in his arms.

Red Hood let out an ugly, hollow laugh.

“What _didn't_ happen? Everything's fucked, Roy.”

His voice sounded like he'd swallowed gravel and Roy threw Conner and Cassie, who'd come closer, a bewildered look.

“Is this about Bluebeard? We were just talking about that.”, Ollie said carefully.

“Isn't he dead, though?”, Conner asked, “The seventh victim killed him, right?”

Jason's answer felt like a punch to the gut.

“Damian's the seventh.”

“I'm sorry, _what?_ ”, Cassie choked.

Jason ripped himself away from Roy and rounded on her.

“I said: Damian's the fucking seventh! And Tim's in a goddamn _coma_ , 'cause this piece of shit chucked him off a rooftop, and Steph's in hospital too, 'cause she got _set on fucking fire!_ ”

Roy felt his mouth drop open in horror.

_I was gone for two months! How in the ever loving fuck did all this happen so quickly?!_

Jason had stumbled back after his shout and was gripping his short hair with both hands, his breathing was heavy and there were tears running down his face.

A tumult of noise suddenly erupted in the room.

“Tim is in a coma?!”, “Steph was _what?!_ ”, “How the hell did this happen?”

Roy's heart was pounding in his skull, he had to pull himself together, however, because Jason's eyes had been glowing an unhealthy Lazarus green, before he squeezed them shut, and Roy knew his boyfriend was on the verge of a panic attack, which he would _not_ let happen.

“Guys, shut the fuck up!”, he snapped at the headless chickens that pretended to be the Justice League, before he marched over to the younger man to gently take his face in his hands and wipe away the tears with his thumbs.

“Jay, love, can you look at me?”

Jason hesitantly opened his eyes, there was still a sliver of blue in them, that was good. They couldn't afford for Jason to have a Lazarus-related freak-out now.

“Deep breaths... that's it.... How 'bout we go over to the couch and you can tell us what happened? Is that okay?”

Jason took one last slow breath, before nodding. His eyes were still greener than usual and Roy went up on the tips of his toes to press a sweet kiss to his lips.

“C'mon.”, he tugged his boyfriend over to the others, who had given them some space.

They sat down heavily, Jason hunching in on himself and not letting go of Roy's hand.

It reminded Roy of the thirteen year-old kid, that Jay had been when they'd first met.

God, that felt like a lifetime ago, now.

“You okay, Jason?”, Diana had laid a hand on the teen's shoulder.

Jason ran a hand through his hair and Roy gave the one he was holding a reassuring little squeeze.

“Yeah, I-... the last two weeks were just hard.”

“So, what happened? You don't have to go into details, if you don't want to.”. Clark said, gently.

Jay leaned into Roy slightly and then started talking.

“So, Steph had this asshole who stalked her. Sent her creepy letters and pictures. And he kept getting into her apartment, even though the boys had trapped the place. And, uh, he got real pissed when she and Dick got together, those two are a couple, by the way.”

Cassie made a triumphant noise at the back of her throat and poked her boyfriend in the ribs.

“Hah! You owe me ten bucks, mister!”

Conner let out a groan, but handed over the money.

Roy was glad for their antics, since it made Jason's lips twitch upwards.

“So, this asshole threatens her and then cuffs her to her bed and sets her on fire... Dick and I ran back upstairs, I had called him earlier to tell him what happened to the boys, and- and Dick got her out... just... we thought she was dead... she was all burned up a-and...”

For a moment Jason seemed far away, perhaps he was back at Steph's apartment, facing the flames.

Roy reached up and let his knuckles trail over his boyfriend's cheek.

Jason blinked, suddenly back with them.

“She's alive, though.”, the redhead reminded him,”And, knowing Steph, she'll probably be back to swinging over Gotham's rooftops soon.”

“Blüdhaven's actually.”, Jay said with a small smile, “She wants to be the Flamebird to Dick's Nightwing.”

“That's cute.”, Cassie grinned.

Ollie let out a snort.

“And kind of ironic. Calling herself Flamebird, after that.”

Roy felt a chuckle bubble up from his throat.

“Steph's probably living for the irony.”

“She definitely is, and she keeps making stupid fire-based puns, too.”, Jason chuckled.

The archer smiled up at him, relieved that his boyfriend's eyes were their usual turquoise again, the Lazarus taint never quite leaving them, even when Jason was calm.

“See? Steph's gonna be alright. She's a trooper.”

The Red Hood leaned back, letting his head fall against the backrest of the sofa.

“The boys aren't. Tim's still in a coma, they're not entirely sure if, and when, he'll wake up, or if he's gonna be more than a fucking vegetable. And Damian's...”, he swallowed and closed his eyes.

“Damian's like a ghost. He either just cries and cries, or goes completely catatonic and... and he doesn't talk, at all. This piece of shit had him for a week and we have no idea what he went through, we only know that he killed him. Bashed the fucker's head in with a hammer as he was strangling him... it's... he's just hurting so much and none of us know how to help.”

Roy had to swallow, hard.

_This is so fucked up..._

“Wait, you said Tim was thrown off a rooftop by Bluebeard. How did he not just swing back up? Did his grapple-gun break?”, Barry asked, tilting his head to the side.

Alarm bells went off in Roy's head because Jason, Jason _flinched._

“I had it.”, he choked, “Tim gave me his, because mine broke.”

_Oh, no..._ Roy knew where this was going, and he wouldn't let it.

“Jason.”, he said, voice dropping low in warning, “ _Don't._ ”

The younger man sat up, the pit-green flaring in his eyes.

“If I hadn't taken it, then the boys would've been fine and I would've had no reason to get Dick away from Steph!”

Roy flung his arm out, voice rising with a desperate sort of anger.

“He would've probably found an opportunity to hurt her anyway! And you couldn't have possibly known that Bluebeard was gonna show up!”

“But I-!”

“No!”, the archer yanked his boyfriend close by the front of his shirt, so that their eyes were level.

“You don't get to blame yourself! I won't fucking let you!”

He could see tears rising in the other's eyes, even though his face was contorted into an angry snarl.

“You won't _let_ me?! That's not how this fucking works, Roy!”

“Yeah, well, too bad. Because you're not allowed to do this to yourself!”

Roy pulled his boyfriend into a hug, a bit rougher than necessary.

“Listen to me, Jason. You are _not_ to blame for this. You couldn't have known that this would happen. I know you're upset and want to lash out, but you can't hurt yourself like this. _Please,_ I can't stand to see you hurt like that.”, his voice had gentled at the end and Jason had just sagged against him.

“I'm sorry...”, he mumbled and Roy could feel wetness spread against his shoulder, where Jason had hidden his face. He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, gently rocking them from side to side.

“It's okay... I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Conner scrunched his face up.

“Ugh, get the mushiness out of here.”

Jay flipped him the bird and Roy snorted.

“Gotta say, your relationship dynamics are fascinating.”. Ollie snarked, leaning back into the couch.

Roy threw him a glare.

“Want me to recount some of the highlights you and Dinah had over the years, old man?”

“Nah, I'm good.”

“Thought so.”

“Is the adult talk over? Can we come back, now?”, Jon's voice called from high above them.

“As if you didn't listen in, you brat!”, Conner shouted back up.

Jon flew closer and Roy narrowed his eyes as he spotted his daughter in the young teenager's arms.

“Jon, what did I say about flying with Lian?”, he growled.

“Uh, not to do it?”, the boy said sheepishly, setting the toddler down, but not touching the ground himself.

Arsenal took out a trick arrow and aimed.

“Let's see how well you fly when you're encased in foam.”

Jon squeaked and zipped off.

“You wouldn't really shoot him, would you?”, Clark asked, his arms crossed over his chest, although his eyes twinkled in amusement.

The archer snorted.

“As if I'd waste an arrow like that.”

“Jay!”, Lian squealed and put her arms out in the universal sign for “up”.

Jason chuckled and lifted her into his lap.

“Hey there, Sweetcheeks, how're ya doing?”

Instead of answering, Lian put her hands on Jasons cheeks and squinted at him.

“Uh, Lian?”

She let go, nodded and then kissed him on the cheek.

Roy snorted at Jason's bewildered expression.

“What was that for?”

“Jay's hurt. I'm kissing the ouchie.”

His heart swelled with, both, adoration and pride.

_She's such a smart cookie._

Jason nodded very gravely.

“I see. I'm afraid I'll need another one for this ouchie.”

He pointed to his other cheek and the little girl dutifully leaned forward to place a smacking kiss on it.

Jay let out a dramatic gasp.

“I'm feeling much better now! Thank you, Dr. Lian!”

He then wrapped Lian in his arms and shook her gently from side to side, while the little girl squeaked with laughter.

Roy grinned, he really loved his family.


End file.
